One of the most common questions singers ask: How do I know if I’m singing wrong?
Instead of chasing “perfect” technique, Amber offers a simpler, more grounded approach—two key questions every singer can use to check in with their voice: Does it feel good? and Do I like how it sounds? These questions help singers build trust with their instrument, reduce overthinking, and make more confident vocal choices.
This episode encourages singers to listen to their instincts, understand when support might be helpful, and move away from fear-based singing toward a more sustainable, expressive relationship with their voice.
00:00 Introduction and Listener Engagement
00:26 Understanding Singing Concerns
02:22 The Importance of Feeling Good While Singing
03:52 Evaluating Your Sound and Results
05:53 Seeking Professional Guidance and Resources
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Hello everybody. A few weeks ago, I posted a poll on Instagram asking all of you to give me the topics that you want to hear me talk about here on the podcast, to let me know questions that you have. And you guys gave me some really great ones. One of the questions said, how do I know if I'm singing wrong? I'm always worried that I'm possibly causing problems. How do I know if I'm singing wrong?
And I wanted to cover this one because that is asked so frequently. I think especially if you are a singer who is getting tips from podcasts like this or YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, whatever it is, and you don't have a coach or a professional that you can touch base with, I think the big worry for so many that I hear is, what if this is not good for me? What if this isn't helping? What if this is wrong? So I want to jump into it. And I really think it is a much
simpler answer than we like to make it. One of the things I love about contemporary styles of music,
we're talking pop, rock, R &B, funk, soul, folk, jazz, Americana, country, anything non-classical. One of the things I love about working in those genres so much is there is no wrong or right way to do it. If you
When I was originally classically trained, it was, this is how we sing an E vowel. This is how we breathe. This is how we articulate. It is not like that in the contemporary music world. These styles of music are the styles of regular people, We're telling stories. We're creating experiences that people can relate to. So we sing many times how we would speak. We all speak differently.
We all have different things to say. We come from different places. We have different perspectives. We have different voices, literally and figuratively. It all comes down to two questions. The first one Is whatever you're doing, does it feel good?
Is it something you can do consistently? And that lets us know, is this technique, is this range we're singing in, whatever it is, is it sustainable? Is it something you can do over and over again when you want? And it feels good. It feels doable. So if something hurts, obviously giant red flag, singing should never hurt.
If it's uncomfortable, if you sing for a little bit and then you're like, I kind of feel like I'm losing my voice. It's scratchy, it's irritated. I need to cough. All of those are red flags to say we are doing things that don't feel great.
I don't want to say you're doing something wrong, but we're doing something non-optimal, right? We're doing something that is not going to be sustainable for us. So that is number one. If your answer to number one is, yeah, this feels good,
It feels pretty easy and feels pretty natural. Then that's great. That's all we want. We want number one to be yes, Now, when I say easy,
What I mean is, of course, it can take a lot of energy from the body. It can take a lot of thought. It doesn't hurt. You don't lose your voice. It feels like something you can do repeatedly in a consistent, sustainable way. And only you can really answer that question. Of course, if you have a coach, a teacher, a professional that you can rely on, that's a great person to go to if you're not sure, right, and get feedback.
but really listen to your voice, your body. It's gonna give you clear signs. Does this feel good? Is this working for me or not? And question number two, it's gonna sound simple too, but these are the only two things that really matter. Do you like how it sounds? Are you getting the results that you want? Is it stylistically giving you what you want?
Tonal quality wise, vibe wise, are you able to communicate things in the way you want Can you sing the songs you want, how you want, and you like how they sound,
We want the answer to that to be yes. If the answer is no to do I like how it sounds, we stop.
doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong, but it means you're not doing the thing that's getting you the results you want. So those are your two questions. Instead of sitting there beating yourself up and thinking, am I doing this wrong? Am I going to hurt anything? You what if I'm wasting my time with this? Ask yourself those two questions. Is what I'm doing, does it feel good? Can I do it over and over again consistently? We want a yes. If we don't have a yes to that, it's time to stop. if you're
Supports are on the interwebs, There's loads of things out there. Try something else and see how that feels. Ask yourself the same questions or if you are in a situation where you can reach out to a professional that knows what they're talking about, that's a really quick way to get help. So
You go to a coach, you go to a teacher that can hear your voice and they know what to do that's gonna give you the result that you want that feels a whole lot better, that is a lot more consistent and sustainable. That's the ideal thing to do. I don't really care about number two, to be totally honest, if you like how it sounds, if it doesn't feel consistent. Because let's say that it feels kind of cruddy, so number one is a no, but you love how it sounds. Well, you probably can guess.
It's not gonna take you very far. It's not gonna be anything you can rely on. And when we talk about mindset and confidence as singers, that is so important, If we're like, I don't know, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it feels good, sometimes it feels crappy, that's not gonna make us feel real confident. So it's gonna impact that mindset piece as well. So if it...
Doesn't feel good, but you like how it sounds? I'm not happy with that. Or if you're like, no, this feels great, Amber, I could do this all day, but I do not like how it sounds. That is not the quality I'm going for. I want it to be so much more vulnerable sounding, or I want so much more power, or it lacks soul, whatever it is, both of those, we want a yes. And that's it. That's what it comes down to. Does it feel good?
and you get the results you want. If you can answer yes to both of those, I don't care what anybody else says, you are on the right track. Unless it's your employer who's like, hey man, not what I wanted. But meaning as an artist and especially if you are working on your own voice, your own music, you have to as much as you can figure out who you are, who you wanna be, the sounds you wanna create and stay
unless and until you change your mind, because we change as people.
And like I said, if you are in a position where you're like, both of those are a no, I am not happy and I feel like I have tried everything and it's still not getting me exactly where I wanna go, then if you are able, that is a great time to reach out to a professional and get a little help. One-on-one lessons are a fantastic thing. Do you have to do one-on-one lessons? No, you do not. I have a membership specifically for people.
who ask that question and need more one-on-one support, but aren't able to or don't want to, or for whatever reason, do one-on-one lessons. They just aren't feasible. The membership is called the Vocal Pro membership. It is less than half price of one lesson with me, and you get so many unbelievable supports. You get an online community where you get direct access to me five days a week, as well as genuinely singers all over the world.
And I've got to tell you, it's my absolute favorite part of the membership. It's just, we have such great people who are so kind and so supportive. It's just cheerleaders along the way while you are doing massive learning. Every week you get a new vocal workout with five to six exercises, sing along audio tracks for all of those, a video breakdown from yours truly. I have a massive voice gym with over 150 audio exercises with video support for every area of the voice.
And then you go to do that exercise and you're like, okay, great. I have good exercises. It says what they do. It says how to do them, why to do them, but I'm still not sure. it feels a little wobbly. Then you are able to, like I said, access me Monday through Friday and you get weekly video coaching. Every week you can video yourself doing that exercise, singing a song, prepping for a show, whatever it is, send me a video.
I personally will look at it and give you a personalized coaching video back with really specific things to work on towards whatever goal you're working towards. Then we have two live group coaching calls a month where you can work with me, Those are small group coaching calls. They generally are like master classes. You can ask questions, get coaching support, whatever it is you need. And we have an expert workshop every month. And then we have a massive vocal vault of all of the past workshops, probably
I don't know, at this point, 50 plus hours of everything from how to belt to healthy speaking to home recording to mindset to physical therapy to performance skills. So many great things. And then you get access to my Erase Your Break course and to the fantastic course that Ingala Onstad did with me. She is a high performance coach, a licensed psychotherapist.
and it is understanding performance anxiety. It's so much stuff, you guys. It's a ridiculous amount of stuff. But if you are somebody who's like, I need support, I'm not looking for one-on-one lessons, that's not a good fit for me for whatever reason, you should check it out. You can try out two weeks for free, just so you know. If that's not a good fit for you, A-okay. I'm hopeful that's one of the reasons why I have this podcast, that you're getting tips and help here. I have a YouTube channel, Instagram, TikTok, and there's a lot of great stuff out there.
There's also, in all fairness, some not great stuff. So whatever you are doing, whether it's something that I give you or something anybody gives you, I don't care how celebrity they are or how many doctors are behind in front of their name. Ask yourself those two questions always. Does it feel good? Do I like how it sounds? And that's it, you guys. That's the answer to that question.
And if you find yourself needing help,
reach out, come check out the Vocal Pro membership. Thank you for listening. We're gonna jump into another listener question next week, all about high notes. So I hope you will tune in then, bye.
